Description

Leveraging a unique partnership with UNDP, this interdisciplinary project, drawing on the Co-­PI’s backgrounds in international development, adaptation policy, and coastal resilience, will develop a framework of indicators to measure resilience in the context of coastal adaptation projects in developing countries. Building on evidence generated from the past ten years of UNDP experience with coastal adaptation projects as well as existing literature on measuring resilience, we will identify indicators that will address the efficacy, cost-­ effectiveness, and feasibility of various coastal adaptation investments and their contribution to coastal resilience. This framework will then be tested a coastal adaptation project implemented by UNDP. This study will advance the theoretical and empirical literature on resilience and will have direct policy impact through the engagement with UNDP and its government counterparts.

Laura Kuhl

Laura Kuhl is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the International Affairs Program. Her research examines climate adaptation and resilience in developing countries. Prior to Northeastern, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at the Fletcher School, where she helped establish a new research partnership with the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) on climate policy in developing countries. She has studied innovation, technology transfer and adoption for adaptation as well as mainstreaming adaptation in development policy in East Africa and Central America. Current projects also address climate information and early warning systems, coastal resilience and national adaptation plans. She has conducted fieldwork in Ethiopia, Honduras, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and New England and has collaborated with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and UNDP. She has a PhD and MALD in International Affairs from the Fletcher School, Tufts University, and a BA in Environmental Studies and Anthropology from Middlebury College.

Laura Kuhl

Laura Kuhl is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the International Affairs Program. Her research examines climate adaptation and resilience in developing countries. Prior to Northeastern, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at the Fletcher School, where she helped establish a new research partnership with the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) on climate policy in developing countries. She has studied innovation, technology transfer and adoption for adaptation as well as mainstreaming adaptation in development policy in East Africa and Central America. Current projects also address climate information and early warning systems, coastal resilience and national adaptation plans. She has conducted fieldwork in Ethiopia, Honduras, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and New England and has collaborated with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and UNDP. She has a PhD and MALD in International Affairs from the Fletcher School, Tufts University, and a BA in Environmental Studies and Anthropology from Middlebury College.

Steven Scyphers

Steven Scyphers is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences and Affiliated Faculty in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University. Prior to his current position, Steven was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Northeastern and was awarded a Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

After earning a BS in Marine Biology at Auburn University, he completed his PhD at the University of South Alabama and Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Steven’s research integrates ecology and sociology to understand and develop strategies to overcome major challenges facing coastal communities. This work has included projects on sustainable shoreline development, coastal fisheries, ecosystem restoration, and mitigating the impacts of disasters.

Steven Scyphers

Steven Scyphers is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences and Affiliated Faculty in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Northeastern University. Prior to his current position, Steven was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Northeastern and was awarded a Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

After earning a BS in Marine Biology at Auburn University, he completed his PhD at the University of South Alabama and Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Steven’s research integrates ecology and sociology to understand and develop strategies to overcome major challenges facing coastal communities. This work has included projects on sustainable shoreline development, coastal fisheries, ecosystem restoration, and mitigating the impacts of disasters.